Christmas is a state of mind
by Kelirehenna
Summary: Well people, you know what they say: Christmas’s the season to be jolly and gay... [KaiRay] Finally completed.
1. I

Title: Christmas is a state of mind 

Rating: T

Pairing: Kai/Ray, mentions shortly Bryan/Tala. If you wish, you may also be able to see a love-triangle of some sort. Or it could be just friendship. You decide.

Warning: It's a Christmas-related story, so Christmas-haters beware. Contains the idea of boy x boy. There is also a hetero-relationship if you wish to see it that way. If you must warn people about yaoi, I think it's only fair to warn them about het, too.

Disclaimer: Beyblade and it's characters (still) do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and (hopefully) the others. 

Beta: Nancy, yet again. I swear, the girl is too nice to me.

Summary: Well people, you know what they say: Christmas's the season to be jolly and gay...

A/N: I've always liked Christmas. Kai/Ray is the first Beyblade-pairing I fell in love with. I just had to do a Kai/Ray-Christmas-story. I had to!

I still have trouble deciding whether it should be "Ray" or "Rei". It's "Ray" in this story, though.

Happy birthday Ninni. :)

I adore any possible reviews and constructive criticism.

* * *

Twas the night before Christmas… Actually it was only the 17th of December, but no one ever seems to say "twas 8 nights before Christmas". And to be quite honest, it didn't really feel like Christmas-day either. To Kai, Christmas meant that his house was full of evil-minded Russians who cursed and smashed his belongings. Four Russians from the Abbey were more than able to make the house seem full. Kai could only wonder how they were able to do that. His house was a close to Moscow-located mansion, he had more than plenty of both inside and outside space, and still every Christmas he seriously considered buying a bigger estate. The way he figured it was that those four friends of his had all big enough egos to fill a residential neighborhood. When their egos would clash, it was like walking through a war-zone to everyone within a mile.

Kai looked around and listened. No sounds of smashing porcelain or arguing, only laughter and voices coming from the television. Nope, Ian, Spencer, Bryan and Tala definitely weren't around. And talking about Bryan and Tala, those to had been acting a bit weird lately. Not even mentioning the articles the newspapers had been putting out for the last couple of weeks, the "Famous Russian bladers are queer!?"-ones. He would have to ask about that one day. He hoped that the rumors were true though, because he knew that deep down, his friends had always been destined to fell for each other.

Even though Kai Hiwatari might seem like your average rational and sensible-type of guy, he had always been a great believer of kismet, fate, destiny, whatever people wanted to call it. He knew that some things were meant to happen. He was meant to get together with his long-time crush this Christmas, for instance.

Now, to get back to that "twas the night before Christmas"-poem, it didn't quite fit the moment even if it had been that particular night. The poem would have continued "when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." So clearly, according to the poem, it should have been quiet there. It wasn't quiet. Not at all.

"Cheer up Kai! Smile a bit! It's the holidays man, you should be jolly instead of gloomy."

The boy who had decided to interrupt his pondering was his beloved teammate, friend and nemesis, Tyson Granger. The boy was in _his_ house, watching _his_ TV and still telling _him_ what to do. Oh, the nerve...

"I've been getting a lot of those looks from you for the last few days. What's your problem?" Tyson asked, eyebrows raised. Kai just glared.

"Knock it off, Tyson. Leave Kai alone, and we won't have to start worrying about funerals", Hilary said teasingly and poked Tyson's nose.

"Now now, don't worry, I wouldn't kill him", Tyson said and smiled to Kai.

"I think she might have meant your funeral, Ty", Max said without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Whose side are _you_ on, Max?" Tyson asked, looking annoyed.

"I'm only being realistic".

Kai shook his head and sighed. Hiro had warned him about the dangers of spending multiple days consecutively with his friends after getting used to live mostly alone, and still he had accepted the idea of spending an early Christmas together with them. Kai could only thank the world from the fact that Daichi had been occupied for the time and couldn't have joined them.

"This movie is boring. I think we should do something fun", Tyson interrupted Kai's thoughts again.

"But it's a movie _you_ picked", Kenny reminded. Tyson just waved it off.

The reason why all of them were there was the deal they had made early in December. Because everyone had agreed that they needed to spend the actual Christmas with their families, they had decided to celebrate Christmas earlier

together. They would decorate the tree, eat festive foods and do other things which belonged to traditional Christmas. It had been Max's idea in the beginning; the American way of spending the Christmas was tight in the boy. Tyson, Kenny and Hilary had agreed to the plan right away. Ray had looked at all of them and though better to agree to it too. Kai, on the other hand, had not been as exited. He liked to celebrate his Christmas in traditional Russian way in January 7th and he didn't care that much about the western type of Christmas. He had said that the others could spend their little Christmas together, but he wasn't going to join them.

In the end, after Tyson and Max had tried their everything, Hilary and Ray had been sent to turn Kai's head around. It was probably needless to say that he had been made to agree and even promise his own house to their use. Kai hated Ray's and Hilary's pleading voices and hopeful smiles. He always found himself doing something what he didn't really wanted to after seeing them.

"I feel like doing something useful. Let's bake something!" Tyson suggested and jumped off the couch. He received an annoyed glare and lazy stares from the others.

"Come on guys, don't be like that! It's a lovey-dovey movie, baking must be funnier than that! Max, you'd want to bake gingerbread-cookies with me, right?"

Max gave him a slightly amused smile.

"If we can make chocolate-chip-cookies too."

Tyson grinned.

"You bet. Hilary, Kenny, you'll come and help us too, right?"

Kenny looked a bit uncertain, but nodded under the peer-pressure. Hilary looked extremely doubtful.

"Shouldn't we go and get Ray to help us? He's the one who usually does the cooking", she asked while the others moved to the kitchen.

"Bah, we can make cookies without him, it can't be that hard", Tyson said belittlingly while looking for the recipes from an old cookbook he had found. Kai was about to go and take the book away from him, but stopped himself. Doing something like that might have raised questions Kai didn't wish to answer. He could only hope that the boy wouldn't destroy the book. It had belonged to her grandmother and Kai was rather fond of it.

"And Ray must be still tired. We've been here for days, he just flew here. It's many hours taking flight and the time difference can get to your head", Kenny said reasonably, checking for the "best before"-dates on supplies Max had been lifting to the table.

"Yeah. And besides... He'll be surprised and possibly cry with joy when we'll present him our perfect and delicious cookies and he can have one."

Max chuckled at Tyson's words but then got more serious.

"But seriously, Ray's been in his room for hours now. Maybe someone should go and check that he's still alive?"

"I'll go. You just go ahead and destroy my kitchen, it only costed more than you'll earn in several years", Kai said and gave others a loving smile. He secretly enjoyed the frightened looks on three faces. The fourth one was completely oblivious and climbing to reach the top shelf.

"Hey Kai? How much is this tasteless, mincing blue vase over here?" Tyson shouted.

"The light blue or the dark blue one? The light is two years of dishes and the dark is a year of taking the garbage out", Kai shouted back while slowly making his escape from the dining room-living room-area. The last thing he heard before closing the door was Kenny shouting Tyson not to drop something and a smash of porcelain.

Maybe it would start feeling like a genuine Christmas after all.

In one of the many guestrooms of the Hiwatari mansion, Ray Kon was laying on bed and listening music with his headphones. He didn't even notice that Kai was there until the blue-haired teen shook his hand in front of the golden eyes.

"Oh, Kai, sorry, I didn't even notice you", he said hastily and removed the headphones. Kai raised his eyebrows at the obvious statement, but decided to let it slip.

"What were you listening to so intensely?"

Ray seemed to be startled by this sudden interest, but nevertheless he shoved the CD-cover to Kai's hand, blushing slightly. Kai stared at the name of the album.

"Romantic love songs, volume 4?"

Ray coughed and tried to grin carelessly.

"You don't need to use your brains while listening to it".

"No wonder, this stuff melts your brains away before you have the time to use them. Are there any honestly good songs?" Kai asked, browsing through the song-list critically. Ray seemed to be surprised that no one had started laughing at him yet. He thought about the question for a while.

"Some of the old classics are nice. And I love the "If I thought you'd ever change your mind"-song. No matter what people think, _I_ think it's beautiful."

Kai was certain he had heard that song before. He realized that this might be the proper time to activate the "make your crush fall for you too"-plan. He searched through his memory, finally remembering the words he had been looking for.

"I will bring you happiness?"

Ray looked both astonished and happy. Kai felt pleased with himself.

"Wrapped up in a box and tied with a yellow bow, yeah, that's the one! Do you like it?"

'No' wasn't the right answer, but 'yes' would be just lying.

"I'm not sure. I haven't heard it in a while. I just remember the words."

It wasn't a lie, it was diplomatic and it told Ray that he had a good memory too. Could you get any better than that?

"Well, you can listen to it someday, if you have time. You can borrow my mp3 if you like", Ray suggested, waving a little black object in his hand. Kai just nodded a 'maybe', even though his inner self clapped his hands together and smiled.

_Already on the stuff-borrowing level... This is going better than I expected. _

"Oh, hey, before I forget. Have you bought the presents to others yet?"

Kai frowned a bit.

_Presents? What presents? Oh, right, the Christmas pres – umh._

He had forgot to get the presents. They were supposed to give them to each other the day after tomorrow.

It wasn't that bad, Kai told himself. He could always return Tyson and Max the sleigh, which he had secretly confiscated when they had arrived to his house, and claim that he had bought it. Kenny would most likely be satisfied with Kai's old laptop. For Hilary, it would probably be enough if he would agree to go shopping with the girl. Somehow, she seemed to love the special kind of attention she received whenever Kai was with her. She also snickered every time that Kai rejected some poorly planned seduction-attempt. She just did so, Kai didn't know why. There was always it's own dangers in being alone with Hilary, though. The girl seemed way too curious at times, and asked a bit too many questions about Kai and Ray's friendship. Kai was beginning to be worried that he wasn't the only one who knew exactly what he felt for Ray.

And talking about the lovely neko-jin... Kai didn't have any present for Ray either. Maybe he could just promise him to be his lover for undefined amount of time and then Ray would be happy and _very_ satisfied, at least as soon as their path would lead to the master-bedroom? Or maybe Kai needed to get a life, and he would just have to find something that he owned and which Ray hadn't seen yet. He'd figure something out. He might feel a bit guilty when others would give him their gifts, but that's just life for you.

"I was wondering whether you'd like to come and buy the presents with me tomorrow? I remember the last time in Moscow and it wasn't that charming. I'll get lost in three minutes."

Kai fought back the desire to scream "YES!".

"My other choice seems to be to stay here and watch those calamities destroy my house, so why not."

Ray smiled in a thankful way, and for a moment they just both looked at each other in the eyes. Then they heard a distant clash and a yell. Ray turned to look at the closed door and Kai rolled his eyes.

"What are the so-called calamities doing at the moment?"

"Baking cookies", Kai answered, covering his face with his hand. Ray looked at him deploringly.

"I pity your kitchen".

"And I really liked those vases too", Kai muttered more to himself than to Ray. The other boy still heard it and grinned.

"Pricey ones too?"

"Extremely valuable. Not that it matters, it's just that they also belonged to my mother."

Ray's grin turned into a elegiac smile and he patted Kai on the back. When the Bladebreakers had first came together, Kai had made it clear to everyone that he wasn't exactly a touchy-feely person. After first year, Ray had seemed to stop doing so much what Kai said they should do and more what he suspected that the older boy really wanted them to do. Kai couldn't really complain about that. Even if he didn't say it out loud, Kai appreciated those little signs of caring. They made him feel more comfortable inside.

Their moment was spoiled by Tyson, who ran inside the room looking upset. Kai was about to yell to Tyson whether he didn't know what knocking meant, but he realized that it might have sounded a bit questionable. After all, he and Ray weren't exactly doing anything forbidden from others to see.

Now Max ran inside the room too. Kai gave in, the moment was lost, and he glared at the the younger boys.

"You'd better not tell me that my kitchen is on fire."

"No no, nothing like that. Ray, we need your help", Tyson said, trying to even his breath. Ray raised his eyebrows in questioning matter.

"It's the dough, Ray, it's swelling way too much to be normal! Remember Tyson's belly the one time in the buffet-restaurant when he tried to eat as much as he could and the owner started crying because he feared that he would go into bankrupt? I'm talking about _that_ kind of swelling!"

"Hey, that only happened once and it was years ago!" Tyson cried out and jogged Max to stop the boy embarrassing him more. Ray just sighed.

"Okay, I'm coming..."

After hearing that, both boys nodded gratefully and stormed off, leaving Ray and Kai behind. Both were standing still for a moment. Ray snapped out of it first.

"Well, I guess I'd better go. If the dough explodes on your walls, we'll spend the rest of the day cleaning it", Ray said, smiling and shaking his head. Kai gave him a slightly worried look.

"Will you be okay with them?"

Ray seemed to be a bit puzzled by the question.

"Who, me? Sure. I've been okay with them for the last three years, ignoring some of the not so wonderful times. So yeah, I'm just fine. Tired, but fine."

Kai nodded. If he had asked or said more, it might have sounded suspicious to Ray's ears, and he didn't want to reveal his feelings just yet.

"Seriously Kai. I'm just fine", Ray assured and gave the other one a warm smile, which soon turned into a grin, "... well, as long as I don't have to eat their cookies, that is."

Suddenly they heard Kenny screaming something along the line "It's gonna blow!" and Ray left the room in a hurry, leaving Kai there alone. Kai stared at the still closed suitcase, wanting to open it and see what Ray carried along, see what was valuable to him. However, he wanted also to honor Ray's privacy and decided to leave the suitcase alone for now. He slowly walked away from the room, then headed towards the kitchen and prepared to rage a bit.

It only took them half of the day to clean up the kitchen. Kai made Tyson promise never to touch yeast again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning was a chaos. Kai had gone jogging early so he never really found out exactly what had happened while he had been gone, but when he got back around 10 AM, his house had turned into real estate of screaming, tears and smashing things. During the last few days, Kai had never felt more christmassy than then.

After four mugs of coffee, Ray had told him that Hilary and Tyson had had a fight. Ray wasn't too sure why, he had only woken up when Hilary had started yelling, but apparently Tyson had done something he shouldn't have. Tyson and Hilary had yelled to each other about 20 minutes; Kenny, Max and Ray had all been hiding in the bathroom and thus not hearing clearly what those two had said. Max had looked as though he knew the reason for the fight, but Ray had got the feeling that it would be better not to ask. After the agonizing twenty minutes, yelling had stopped and the three of them thought that they should go and check the damage. Max said that he should probably speak to Tyson, Kenny agreed to find Hilary and Ray was ordered to estimate the damage made to the house.

When Kai finally arrived, Kenny had been – as far as Ray knew – sitting with sobbing and crying Hilary in one of the many bathrooms for about half an hour. Tyson and Max had been first quietly in their bedroom, but after fifteen minutes they had started also yelling to each other about something. Later on, Ray had heard Max storming off to the laundry room. From time to time the blonde boy would be heard frustratedly screaming out loud. Tyson was, by the sounds of it, throwing stuff at the bedroom wall. Ray was drinking lots of coffee. He had looked almost ready to kiss Kai when the blue-haired teen had told him that they should go to the shopping-trip right at that moment or they might never be able to go. They had yelled 'bye' and 'we'll be back in few hours' from the outside door and then ran for their lives. They felt a bit sorry for Kenny, but neither of them were interested in staying there and trying to solve problems that were clearly private matters between Hilary, Tyson and Max.

The gift-shopping turned out to be harder than Kai had expected. Now that he really tried to buy some decent presents, he couldn't come up with any. Neither did Ray. And to make things worse, there was also this issue of fans...

"How come they keep giggling whenever I say something?" Ray asked and his question was followed by lightheaded bursts of laughter.

"Another kind of reaction would require brain activity", Kai said mildly while glaring at the giggling people. He had never enjoyed competition over something he really wanted, and he felt as every one of those gigglers where trying to attract Ray's attention.

"Maybe we should change the shop? I know a better one, usually less crowded than this. The car is outside and waiting for us anyway."

Ray agreed and sidiously they smiled to the swarm of fans and made a sudden run to the car. They only left loud screams behind them. 'Ray, don't go, I love you, I'll change my name to Rayna and we'll have dozen of little babies!' was the one Kai would probably never forget. Judging by the pale look on Ray's face, neither would he. In the future, Kai would ensure that by every now and then asking how were Rayna and the babies doing. He just loved that embarrassed look on Ray's face.

The next shopping center did turn out to be less crowded. Also, the people shopping there seemed to be a bit less intruding. For Kai, that meant that he was back in his problem with the gifts. He took a glance at Ray and decided to try his luck.

"Ray? What are you planning on buying?"

"Beats me. Everything I can think of is way too expensive."

"Maybe we could buy the gifts together? If we do, it's cheaper to both of us and we won't have to be here all day."

And also, even if Kai would never admit it to Ray or to anyone else for that matter, he really thought that "with love, from Kai _&_ Ray" would sound nice in the Christmas-cards.

Ray smiled, unaware of his friend's thoughts.

"Sounds like a plan. I thought that Hilary would love a perfume, she's been talking about this one particular brand, the one which had the big commercial campaign on TV, over a month now. I think she's trying to get to Tyson buy her a bottle."

"Will Tyson buy her one?"

"I kinda doubt that."

"What brand did you say it was?"

They ended up buying a small yet expensive bottle and Ray even managed to make the storekeeper wrap it for them by smiling nicely. Kai paid more than half of the prize. Ray naturally protested against it, but Kai said that without Ray's idea Hilary would have received an electric blender, so Ray had actually done more than needed.

Then it was time to get Kenny a present.

"Why can't we just give him a gift voucher to some computer shop?" Kai asked while following Ray on the aisle which lead to a small gift shop.

"Because that would be so typical", Ray answered evadingly. Kai just said nothing. He had learned that eventually people would find the silence too oppressive and tell what they weren't supposed to.

Ray abided almost 15 seconds.

"Fine then, I heard Tyson and Max talking about getting a voucher to a computer shop. I find it hard to believe that it would be a gift for Hilary, you know how she's like with computers."

Kai did know. Sadly, so did his old laptop. Hilary was the main reason for it's non-current use. The event had included a glass of soda, sudden movement and the question 'what does this button do?'.

"In that case, what do _you_ suggest he give him?"

"A chessboard."

Kai just gave Ray a questioning look.

"I've seen him playing chess against Dizzi a lot lately, he once tried to challenge us all to a chess-tournament and I've actually seen him reading chess-books and muttering about some "killer"-moves. My guess is that he's trying to learn to play chess really well to impress someone", Ray explained.

"I don't even want to know more. Should it be wooden or glass?"

Kenny would receive a chessboard made of glass as a present and wonder how on earth they knew that he liked chess.

"Now than that's settled... What to buy for Max? Or for Tyson, for that matter?" Ray wondered out loud. Before Kai had the time to answer anything, he continued, "Maybe we should just buy a gift they could both use?"

"Aren't they arguing with each other at the moment?" Kai asked, but only because the situation seemed to demand it. He knew exactly what Ray would answer.

"Oh, they'll be friends again tomorrow. I think that a joint present would be nice. You have any ideas what to buy them?"

"We could give them a 3-pound-bag of sugar and watch them eat it. Then we might witness them running in the snow, screaming and laughing, only in their underwears.

I bet magazines would pay a lot for those kind of pictures."

Thanks to Ray, they bought a CD-player.

Then Kai realized that he still didn't have any gift for Ray. That was probably a gift he needed to buy alone.

"I think we need to split up. I still have to buy something for your present", Ray said. Kai blinked.

"You already have a present for me?"

"A part of it", Ray answered smiling. Kai just stood there, regretting now that he hadn't opened the suitcase.

"Do you know where to get it?" he asked after a while.

"Yeah, I saw a shop that probably sells what I need just a minute ago. Do you still need to get any presents?"

Kai could only smile to this. Both of them knew that Ray had meant 'have you got a present for _me_ yet?', but neither said anything about it.

"Maybe."

"How long will it take to buy them?"

"I'd say that about 15 minutes", Kai said and thus determined how much he had time to figure out a proper gift for Ray.

"Okay then. We'll meet here in 15 minutes", Ray said and left fast to the direction in which they had came from. Kai decided to try his luck in the department store in front of him.

While walking down the aisles full of different kinds of products, Kai pondered what he should get. He needed to buy something which said 'I care about you and I want to be with you' and in the same time it had to be something which said absolutely nothing special. Something romantic and not romantic at all. He didn't want Tyson and the others to realize what the gift meant, only Ray needed to know.

What to buy for the boy of your dreams? Now that was the question, a one in which Kai did not hold the answer.

Then he saw an old lady walking towards the cashier, holding something which caught his interest.

Then he had an idea.

* * *

So ends the chapter one. 

And if anyone wishes to know what was it that Kai saw that lady carrying, I'll tell it to you in the end of the next chapter.

There will be probably two more chapters, and I hope that I would be able to put them both here before the new year begins. We'll see about that...

Please leave a Christmas-present by reviewing the story.


	2. love

Chapter 2

Pairing(s): Kai/Ray, the possible love triangle (IF you wish to see it that way), little mentioning of Bryan/Tala and hell, because it was Christmas when I wrote this, I even mentioned my obsession-pairing. I'm proud of myself.

Warning: It's a Christmas-story, and it's not even Christmas anymore, gahh! If you hate Christmas and are happy that it is over, this might not be the proper story for you. Also, if you hate the idea of boy x boy and possible strong language, run! Run for your life!

Disclaimer: The song "If I thought you'd ever change you mind" and it's lyrics or Beyblade and it's characters do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and (maybe?) the others. 

Beta: Nancy, who did great job once again. I am such an evil person really, giving her my stories to be fixed up on Christmas...

A/N: I am late, yes, I know and I apologize! Writer's block hit me good. I'm still not completely over it, so I'm a bit worried whether the story is good at all. I do like most of it, but... well, there are some parts which could have been done better, but I just don't know what to do with them. Bear with me, I'm still just a novice.

Thanks for the chapter and for the whole story goes to the best Finnish KaiRei-cult there is, and to it's members of course. They helped me to create this story, and they make me love Kai/Rei even more. So thank you ladies. I -heart- you.

And thank you so much, the lovely people who reviewed the part one! The constant running around and screaming "Squeee!" non-stop made my parents doubt my mental health, but then again, that's nothing new.

Reviews and polite criticism for this chapter are yay.

* * *

_I would bring you happiness_

_Wrapped up in a box and tied with a yellow bow_

_I would bring you summer rain and rainbow skies to make your garden grow_

_And in the winter snow my songs would keep you from the cold_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning was Christmas. Not in the traditional sense, it wasn't the right day and there was no sounds of smashing furniture or anything else, but Kai had to admit that the decoration Ray had put up last night really gave the mansion an odd feel of a movie-sort Christmas. There was also a lovely, spicy aroma coming out of the kitchen, and Kai guessed that the thanks for that one went also to Ray, not to mention his unbelievable cooking skills. The boy was a prodigy of some sort, even if he didn't admit it.

"Do I smell gingerbread?"

Kai turned to look at Tyson, who had just entered the dining area, the rest of the group right behind him.

"Of course you do silly, nothing else in this world smells just like it", Hilary said her eyes closed, focusing on that lovely, enthralling smell now floating all around the room.

"I can't understand where Ray got his cooking skills and why can't anyone of us cook like him", Kenny wondered out loud.

"We haven't seen Kai cooking, though. Who knows how good he would be?" Max said and gave Kai a friendly smile. Kai felt nice enough to return the gesture before answering:

"You may never know."

"Hope not. It's nice to live in the belief that if I would suddenly go away, you would all starve."

Everyone turned to look at Ray, who was currently watching them from the kitchen doorway, and grinned to him.

"Even if we wouldn't starve, we'd definitely miss your cookings", Tyson said, took few steps and patted Ray on the back.

"So my cookings are all that matters to you guys, huh?" Ray said, pretending to be insulted, and smiled challengingly to all of them.

"I'm sure we'd miss the whole Ray."

Suddenly it became very quiet around Kai. He looked around and felt seriously awkward. If he wouldn't have learned to control his emotions during his childhood years, he would have most likely also blushed radiantly.

"Aww, Kai, that was so sweet of you!" Hilary suddenly cried and, for reasons no one knew, hugged Max and then ran to Tyson and hugged him too.

At this point in was only fair to mention that Max, Tyson and Hilary had made up their arguments at some point during the last night. In the morning they had all been enjoying the breakfast together, laughing, and seemed to be closer than ever, touching each other frequently and talking more openly. Kenny had been relieved beyond limits. Ray and Kai, on the other hand, weren't surprised. The fights between those three seemed always end like this, though Kai did admit that something seemed to be different than it used to be. He wasn't sure whether he really even wanted to know, so he tried not to think about it.

"Woah, you are choking me!" Tyson yelled, making Hilary loose her grip.

"If the hugging-quota is full, we might start eating now", Ray suggested laughing.

"And then we could decorate the tree, right Maxie?"

"You bet, Ty!"

Kai's thoughts were rather shady during the dinner and the tree-decoration, all he could think about was the moment in which the gifts would be given. Also, he could feel – he didn't know how exactly, he just _felt_ it - Ray giving him questioning looks from time to time, but he wasn't able to answer to them right then.

After a long wait, it finally happened.

"Maybe we should open the presents now?"

Kenny's suggestion was widely accepted and they all gathered around the Christmas tree. The gifts had been wrapped and put under the tree earlier, now everyone was just staring at each other, waiting for someone to give the first present.

"Hey, idea! Let's open Daichi's packet first!" Tyson shouted and grabbed a brown package that seemed to be delivered by post office.

"It's kinda heavy. There could be rocks inside it."

Tyson took the card and waved it around until Hilary grew bored and stole it.

"To my friends, happy holidays and I hope that the next year is as cool as the last one was", she read and smiled.

"He's just trying to make us believe that he's nice and on our side and all. I bet there's a snake inside that package!" Tyson said and glared at the brown paper covering the unknown, possible snake-like object.

"Ty, you said something like that about Kai's present last year, too", Ray reminded, sounding amused. Tyson didn't seem to pay attention. He opened the covers carefully and took a peek.

"It's something colorful!"

"That narrows the possibilities down a lot, then", Kenny said and took the package from Tyson before he could stop him. He opened the covers a bit more and looked at it critically.

"It looks like candy to me."

"Great! The kid sends us all some candy with rocks and the candy is probably out-of-date anyway", Tyson said, crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

'Some candy' turned out to be a collection which weighed more than 10 pounds. While the four youngest members were browsing through the variety of candies, Kai suddenly remembered something. Horrified, he turned to look at Ray and saw similar look on his face.

"We didn't get anything for Daichi. He's going to be angry to us for weeks", Ray said, face paling while remembering how annoying the youngest member of the team could be while aggravated.

"Isn't it a lucky thing you got great friends like me and Max? We wrote your names on the sender-part too. We sent Daichi a gift-card to a backpacking-store", Tyson said, looking extremely smug. Kai had a feeling that he and Ray would be hearing about this for a long time to come.

"Well, I might as well be the first one to share my presents, most of you already know what you are getting from me", Kenny said, picked a few neatly wrapped gifts under the tree and gave them to their owners.

Kenny had asked for their blades some weeks ago. Everyone knew he had planned to upgrade them as a Christmas-present and, at the time, they had all (except Kai, who didn't really expect anything as a present from anyone anyway) secretly though that it wasn't the kind of gift they had hoped for. But now, when looking at their blades, all new and ready for action, all of them smiled and thanked the brown-haired boy for all the hard work he had done for them. Hilary, the only one who wasn't a blader from their group, found a sweet teddy-bear from her package and hugged Kenny to thank him. As a group-effect, Tyson and Max run over to Hilary and Kenny and also hugged the startled boy. Ray did so too, and when everyone (excluding Kenny, who seemed a bit embarrassed by all the attention) looked at Kai expectantly, the blue-haired blader walked slowly to the others and hugged Kenny too. A bit clumsily, but since it was Kai they were talking about, all they cared about was the fact that he had actually hugged someone.

"Kai in a hug. Now where's the camera when you need one?" Tyson said loudly, making Hilary jog him.

"Always ruining the mood, aren't you... My gifts are next!"

They all received suspiciously soft packets.

"I hope you like them, it took me months to finish all of them", Hilary said and gave them a bit worried smile. Kenny was the brave one who opened his present first. The result was something fluffy and green.

"Umh.. It's..." Kenny said and tried to figure what _it_ exactly was.

"Scarf. I made one for all of you!" Hilary said, smile turning more worried every second.

Everyone looked at each others with a certain look, which Kai was very familiar with. An 'uh-oh'-look is rather easy one to recognize, after all.

"I though that jade would match with your style and... Aren't the rest of you opening up your gifts?" Hilary inquired, now starting to look a bit offended. Max and Tyson started opening up their packages rapidly.

After a few seconds, Max lifted up something that was also fluffy, but it's colour was light blue.

"It's cyan. The vendor said that it would go well with your eyes," Hilary said and looked at the blond boy expectantly. Max managed to put on a smile and entangled the scarf around his neck.

"I love it."

Hilary looked happy, and when Kenny put his own jade-green scarf around his neck too, she hugged the both boys.

Meanwhile, Tyson had also opened his present. It was fluffier than the others, and red. The boy seemed to be desperately looking for something nice to say about it.

"I always thought you would look lovely in scarlet", Hilary said, now smiling completely happy. Then he spotted Tyson's look and glared at the boy.

"You should be glad, my other choice of colour was shocking pink. And the one I sent for Daichi is neon-green."

Tyson quickly twined the scarf around his neck and hugged Hilary.

"Ray, Kai, aren't you going to open your presents?" Tyson said after the hug, clearly ready to be spiteful if the possibility would come. Slowly Ray started unwrapping his present and everyone seemed to hold their breath. The outcome was something ridiculously fluffy.

"Umh. It's very... purple", Ray managed to say. Hilary smiled in a rather distressing way.

"Well, I always thought you were rather purple person", she said giggling, almost as if laughing to some joke only she knew about. Kai felt somehow uneasy.

Ray too put his scarf around his neck and after a hug, the attention turned to Kai. He didn't really want to see his possibly scary and non-white and overfluffed scarf, but Hilary would never forgive him if he wouldn't open the present. He sighed and did what he had to. The result shocked him.

"Making that one took the most time of them all; the more different filaments you use, the slower the process it. But I just thought you needed more _colour_ into your life", Hilary said, smiling innocently.

It wasn't fluffy. That was the only nice thing Kai could say about it. There were six different colours, and the result made his eyes hurt.

_What was she taking when she made this? Did she honestly think I would like it? I mean, come on... She made this for _me_ and she used red, orange, yellow, green, blue and vio – hoooold on. _

Kai looked at the smiling, angelic girl.

_She wouldn't dare._

Kai looked at the scarf and then Hilary again. She had dared. And her smile reminded Kai of how a devil could have smiled.

Kai put on the loveliest smile he could, wrapped his rainbow-scarf around his neck and gave Hilary a warm hug.

"You are going to pay for this", he whispered with a low voice, making sure no one else heard but Hilary. The girl just snickered.

"Eh, right then. Now that all of us have our scarfs, thanks to Hilary, we could move to my and Kai's presents for you guys?" Ray suggested, apparently sensing the tension between Kai and Hilary. The others must have sensed something too, so eager they were to get to the other presents. Or maybe they just wanted to forget the scarfs around their necks.

Kenny received his chessboard, Tyson and Max the CD-player and Hilary her perfume. Another hugging-tour went on, and everything was just fine until it was Kai's and Hilary's time to hug. Kai glared at Hilary a long time, clearly saying he wasn't going to touch the girl even with a stick. Hilary answered by glomping Kai and declaring that he was cute when he was angry. When Hilary finally let him go, Kai's eyes were gleaming with malicious rage. Ray put his hand on Kai's shoulder to stop the possible slaughter. Kai's rage-scale went from 96 to 2 in only few seconds. He felt quite impressed.

"Our gifts next!" Tyson shouted and stormed to pick some packets under the tree. Kai did realize that he hadn't given his present to Ray - nor had the other boy given any present to him – but since Ray hadn't said anything about it, Kai wasn't about to mention it either.

Kenny got his token, looked extremely surprised about it and hugged the boys. Ray received a cookbook from his sweetly smiling teammates. Jestingly he started beating others with the book, muttering something about ungrateful youth. He didn't bother to stop the thwacking when Tyson and Max hugged him. Ray said he didn't care about the possible hospital-bills, because he could secretly add them to Kai's bills and he could pay them and not even notice. At that point Kai took the book off from Ray and hit it under his own legs. He was almost disappointed when Ray didn't even try to get it back.

"Guys! How did you afford this?" Hilary cried suddenly. He had opened her present and found a very expensive-looking necklace.

"Well, we wanted to give something special to you", Max said, smiling

"And we kinda didn't get any presents for each other", Tyson added.

"Yeah, we didn't buy anything for each other", Max verified and smiled even brighter. Hilary made a sobbing-sound, looked as though she was about to start crying and leaped to hug both Max and Tyson in the same time. It all looked very touching. Kai, Ray and Kenny all stared at the three of them, and then looked at each others. Kenny just shrugged and started examining his gifts. Ray fingered his purple-colored scarf and looked everywhere else except at the three hugging teens. Things were even more difficult to Kai. Ray and Kenny just needed to avoid looking at one thing: _he_ had to both avoid looking at the three huggers and also at Ray. Or at least make sure he wasn't staring.

Then it occurred to Kai that already three persons had given out gifts, but hadn't given any to him. He fought against feeling offended - he had been the one who had always said that he didn't even want presents, after all - but still, it welt a bit flattening that they hadn't got absolutely anything for him.

_Ray does have a present for me. He said so himself. Patience, Kai._

Kai had often suspected that Ray could read people's minds. Maybe he had been right all along, because all of a sudden Ray turned to look at Kai and said:

"I think that I could give my present to you now. Those three might never stop."

Kai just nodded, fearing that his anxiousness would gleam of his voice if he had spoken.

There was only one, fairly big package left under the tree. Ray took it and gave it to Kai.

"What is it?" Kai asked, just to make the space sound less quiet. Kenny was enchanted by his gifts, and the others seemed to be busy with hugging, sobbing and whispering.

"Open it", Ray urged. Kai carefully shred the gift-wraps off and noticed that he was looking at himself, only in painted version. So the gift he had been waiting for the whole night was, instead of a possible coffee-mug or a office-lamp as he had been expecting it to be, a painting. Almost like a portrait, really. There was also Ray in it, right next to Kai, smiling. Tyson was there, as well as Max, Hilary, Kenny and Daichi. Kai could notice that there were many other people on the background of the painting too. First he recognized Tala, thanks to the famous, flaming red hair, and Bryan, whose arm was wrapped around Tala's shoulder in an almost possessive way. Soon he noticed many other familiar faces too; Spencer, Ian, Brooklyn, Michael, Johnny, Garland... there seemed to be a great deal of people he knew.

"It could have been better, but I do am pretty proud of it", Ray said, obviously becoming somewhat concerned about the fact that Kai hadn't commented anything yet.

"I love it", Kai said softly, smiling at the little Garland-figure who was glaring at the figures of snuggling Brooklyn and Mystel. He wasn't even lying by saying so. The painting might have not been a Dali-quality one, but it was nevertheless skilfully made and definitely a gift that meant something more than the one's you buy just to buy something and be done with it.

"You do? Oh. Well. Good."

Kai turned to look at Ray, who was standing in front of him, looking more than a bit lost and clearly pondering what to do. Kai put the painting down and wrapped his arms around Ray to give him a hug. He felt honestly touched.

"Thanks", he muttered into Ray's ear. He managed to not to bite or lick anything, even though he wanted. He didn't even bury his hands on Ray's hair. A nice, clean and innocent hug. Nothing wrong with that.

"You're welcome", Ray mumbled back and patted Kai on the back. Then they broke off from the hug.

"Now _that_ would have really been the Kodak moment of the year", Max declared, grinning.

"Oh, so you three stopped hugging already? What's the rush, you only did it like three or four minutes", Ray threw back, picking up the painting and giving it to Kai.

"Hey Kai, cool painting! Did Ray give it you?" Max said hastily, as if changing the subject would have been a matter of life and death. Kai only had the time to nod before Tyson started talking:

"Ray is good at everything. That is so unfair! You will have to make us cake so that we won't feel so bad about ourselves. I know a good recipe, it's in that book we gave you, page 173. You could start now, and it would be ready within few hours."

Tyson dodged the pillow Ray threw him at, but just barely.

"Thanks again for the painting Ray. I'd put in on my bedroom-wall, but the thought of Tyson being forever in my bedroom just scares me."

Ray chuckled and ruffled Kai's hair in almost brotherly way. It felt weird, but not unpleasant. It also made everyone else stare at them, mouths open and eyes wide. Kai felt annoyed.

"If anyone says anything about Kodak or cameras, I swear that I'll throw you guys outside and you will spend the following night sleeping in a tent", Kai threatened. Hilary snickered almost evilly.

"Will Ray stay inside with you or will he be thrown out too?"

Kai wasn't stupid, he could see where Hilary was going with the subject. He worried that others might see too.

"Depends how civilized he acts. I haven't given all my presents yet, so unless you have something else in mind, I might hand over the last one of them", Kai said, hoping Hilary to keep her mouth shut. She must have been in a merciful mood, because she said nothing.

"Why is the gift not here yet?" Max asked, looking around in hopes of spotting a mysterious packet.

"I forgot to bring it", Kai lied, stood up and quickly fetched the package from his bedroom When he came back, everyone was staring at him. Kai ignored everything, just walked in front of Ray and without a word, he gave his gift to him. It was wrapped up in a box and tied with a yellow bow.

"It looks huge!" Tyson shouted, but neither Kai nor Ray really heard those words. Ray just stared at the box, and Kai stared at Ray.

_He must have got my drift._

Slowly, as if in dream, Ray started tearing the bow and and he opened the box.

"Well Ray, tell us what it is", Kenny said, looking anticipating.

"Is it something alive?" Max asked cheerfully.

Ray lifted up something black and quite heavy.

"It's... it's a coffee machine", Ray said in an almost frightened way.

_- Flashback -_

Kai had just returned to the house from his usual jogging-trip and had heard Max screaming, Hilary sobbing and Tyson throwing stuff at something. Determined to know the reason for all of it, Kai had decided to search down the only sensible person around, excluding himself. He found Ray in the kitchen. The black-haired teen had a large coffee-mug is his hand.

"Hey Ray, what's all this? Hilary is using my shirts as her tissues, Tyson is clearly trying to exit his room through the wall and the neighbors will soon start complaining about Max's yells and ask why on earth are we testing our smoke alarms over and over again. I was only gone for few hours, what could possibly happen during... why are you looking at the coffee machine like that?" Kai changed the subject, feeling quite curious and following Ray's tired gaze at the white, shiny, mildly babbling gadget. Ray sighed.

"Because in mornings like these, it's the only thing that keeps me happy."

Kai smiled a bit and decided that knowing what had happened wasn't that important right now. He walked towards the machine, took a tea-mug for himself and looked at Ray.

"Should I pour another cup of coffee for you?"

Ray just looked at him.

"That, my friend, could be the dumbest question I've heard in a long time."

Kai just kept smiling, picked the largest mug he owned and poured it full.

_- Flashback ends - _

Ray just stared at his gift. Kai was desperately expecting a hug which he never got.

"Um", Tyson started, but even he couldn't come up with anything to say.

It was Hilary who finally destroyed the silence, looking somehow more disappointed than Kai did.

"Tyson, Max, maybe you should give Kai your present now so that we can all move on with our lives?"

Kai wasn't sure was that a "sorry man, he just doesn't like you like that, I though you'd be a good couple but nope"-sort of hinting or just talk without any particular double meaning. He didn't even notice when Tyson and Max left the room for a while. All he did was look at Ray, who seemed to avoid his stare and instead just gaze at the empty, brown box.

Tyson and Max came back, looking exited.

"Your present is in your room, Kai", Tyson said and gave Kai a nudge. Through the apathy, Kai felt just a bit curious about his last present.

_Maybe it is a Ray-clone? _

But Kai didn't want replicas, he wanted the real thing.

_Maybe it's an inflatable Ray-doll. Judging by the looks of things, I'm going to spend the rest of my life alone, so the doll might get useful._

Tyson and Max took Kai by his hands and started leading him towards his room. Due to the fact that he didn't feel like his normal self, he didn't say anything about the unnecessary physical contact. He couldn't help but to feel a bit happier though when he saw that Ray was following them along with Hilary and Kenny.

They came to the door which led to his room.

"Go on, see if you like it!" Max said happily and opened the door. Kai peeked inside carefully. He saw nothing disturbing, so he stepped inside. He looked around for a while.

"I see nothing", he said blankly.

"What? I swear, it was here just a minute ago", Tyson said, sounding alarmed. Then they heard a soft mewl.

"Ray, was that you?" Kenny asked innocently.

"No, I think it was the cat", Kai said in a stifled voice. He had noticed a black-and-white creature, which was laying on his bed and glaring at them all.

"We got her from an animal rescue house. We heard that she's had a pretty rough life, so she might be a bit resentful at first. She'll warm up eventually, I'm sure", Max said, not sounding quite assured. Kai said nothing, he was in a middle of a staring contest. The cat seemed to be winning it.

"Her original name is something like You Damn Bastard, but the employees there just called her Lady. She doesn't really have an official name", Max kept explaining. Kai just nodded. He never lost staring contests, not even to Tala. He wasn't going to let a damn cat beat him.

"Hilary told us that you love cats, so we decided to give you one. To keep you accompanied when we are not around, you know?" Tyson said, looking both Kai and the cat.

"And it doesn't give you as much work as a kitten would; this one is house-clean and pretty independent", Max said, beginning to wonder was the cat a good idea after all.

"Damn it", Kai muttered. He had lost the competition. And the cat dared to look smug about it.

"Um, should we have bought something else?" Tyson asked, looking worried.

"No no, it's perfect. Thank you for the gift. It's very considerate of you."

Tyson and Max looked relieved and ran to give Kai a hug. The cat kept glaring at them.

"I think we should let Kai to get to know with his new pet. Come on guys. Let's go", Hilary said tactfully and dragged Kenny along with her.

Kai walked towards the cat and witnessed it's eyes gleaming more fiendishly every second he got closer. It was clear that the cat was evil.

Kai had never met a creature which reminded him so much of himself. He fell in love instantly.

"Hey little fuzzball, come to Ka-aauch!"

His new love had decided Kai was suspicious and scratched him. The wounds actually bled.

"Evil, lovely, damned cat", Kai muttered, wiping the blood off with his shirt.

"We'll leave you now alone. You two need some private-time. Eh, good luck?" Max said, Tyson already getting away from the hostile cat. Max closed the door behind him and Kai could hear them running away as fast as they could. He hadn't turned his eyes away from the cat for even a second.

"I guess it's just you and me then, huh?"

It wasn't sure which Kai had spoken to: to the cat or to the black-haired boy leaning on the door.

Kai remembered someone saying that Christmas wasn't just a date, it was also a state of mind. This state of mind gave Kai a serious headache.

Ray came to sit next to Kai on the bed and looked as though he wanted to ask something. Kai kept his stare on the cat. The cat looked at both of them and wondered something along the lines "Why me?"

There's always something glamorous about that moment which defines the rest of your life.

* * *

I'll try to add the last chapter here as soon as I can, I promise!

The thing that Kai saw the lady carrying in chapter one? It was a mug in which was written "I -heart- coffee". He remembered what Ray had said about the coffee machine, he remembered the song and he had an idea.

Okay, I admit, coffee machine might not be that romantic, but I thought that the idea was kinda cute. If someone read the story, is now reading this and can't understand the deal with the coffee machine, think about the gift-packet, the flashback and the lyrics that were in the beginning. Or just mumble something about weird imaginations and glare around suspiciously.

Grin to everyone who understood what was so funny or "funny" about Kai and Ray's scarfs.

... Hilary is a Kai/Ray-shipper, I tell you!

Snicker to everyone who was certain that Kai's gift to Ray would be a cat.

... But I did need to add a cat in it. If it's a Christmas-story with Kai/Ray-pairing, there needs to be a cat. It just seems to be one of those things.

Yay for Brooklyn/Mystel!

Emh. Reviews, anyone?


	3. Christmas

Chapter 3

Pairings: Kai/Ray, the love-triangle (if you want to see it there) and Bryan/Tala, which is not minor anymore, it's rather major. ... I swear it wasn't my intention, it just happened!

Warning: It's not very Christmassy anymore, the story I mean, but still; if you hate Christmas, be alert. Contains yaoi-material and possibly coarse language. Aaalso, it hints about... adult themes happening during the story. I blame certain redhead and his boyfriend.

Disclaimer: Beyblade and it's characters do not belong to me (if they would, Beyblade would be considered as yaoi anime), I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and the others (meaning individuals who are sleepy and amused by everything.). 

Beta: Nancyyy! _huggle huggle huggle_

A/N: Boy am I late. Sorry folks. But at least it's finally finished, and there will be no more chapters.

I thank the people who took the time to review the part two. Thank you, and I hope you had a lovely Christmas. -bows-

On with the story, shall we?

* * *

_Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind._

xxxxxxxxxx

Kai sighed and prepared to get disappointed. He really hoped he could have been spared from this, but that didn't seem to be an option. Ray wouldn't let it slip, and to be honest, it would have been rather weird if he had. So it was time to come out with the truth.

"Now that you're here, without any visible reason I might add, you might as well help me to win the damned cat's affection."

... well, no one says you have to come out with the truth immediately.

Ray looked at the cat next to him and shrugged.

"It'll come with time. You can't just have it like that."

Kai cocked his head at that.

"Funny enough, it seems to like _you_", he pointed out, glaring at the black- and white-furred animal that was pushing it's head against Ray's thigh. The other boy had the decency to blush a bit.

"It's a natural gift", he muttered and instinctively started petting the cat, making it purr happily.

"I wish I had that too", Kai said, trying not to look jealous to the cat. Lucky, evil creature. If Kai would have grown himself a pair of pointy ears and a tail, would Ray fondle him too?

"You could try to pet her again now. I'll make sure she won't eat you."

"I feel so relieved", Kai said snorting, but nevertheless his hand slowly approached the cat. When it made contact with the soft fur, there was no carnage as Kai had expected to be. Cat just kept purring contently. Probably only because Ray was still petting it too, though. Kai was pretty sure that if Ray had suddenly moved his hand away, Kai's own would have been dead meat.

There was a moment when neither of them said anything, they just kept petting the cat.

"Do you have a name for her yet?" Ray asked. Apparently the silence had become as

deceitful to his ears as it had to Kai's.

"Taijitu."

"Lady Taijitu... Sounds rather festive, don't you think? Somehow glamorous. You can proudly say her name and tell those evil, silly fans who shout your name on the streets that she's the lady who stole your heart and whom your love belongs to", Ray said in thoughts, still petting the cat's head.

"Yeah", Kai muttered, looking at his feet. Ray seemed to reconsider his choice of words and fell silent.

First rule you must follow when having an already awkward-feeling conversation? Never mention the L-word.

"Emh. Taijitu. Referring to yin-yang, is it? It's sweet. Suits her perfectly too, if you look at the colors. I like the name", Ray said, trying to sound cheerful.

"I had a feeling that you would", Kai said, sounding gloomy. Ray coughed and bit his lip nervously.

"I did thought that it was only my imagination at first, but... If I am wrong, I hope that this doesn't ruin our friendship. Kai?"

Kai turned his head resentfully and looked Ray straight in the eyes.

"Did that gift... you know... mean something? More than just 'there you go buddy, Merry Christmas'?" Ray asked, fingers twisting around the purple scarf he was still wearing. Kai looked at the cat again, his hand moving almost mechanically on the warm fur. He didn't want to answer because things hurt much more when they have been admitted, but on the other hand he knew that the other boy already knew the answer to the question, he just wanted to hear Kai saying it was true. Knowing Ray, straight and honest answer would be appreciated, even if the feelings wouldn't be returned.

"Yes", Kai said slowly. Ray nodded and looked at the snowy landscape behind the window.

There are many sentences you just do not wish to hear. Ray's next words to Kai might not be as high on the list as "This might hurt a little" or "Watch out for that –", but still, it's definitely something no one wishes to hear from the person they love.

"We need to talk."

A sentence with three little words might be the most beautiful one you ever hear, and a sentence with four might be enough to make you contemplate stabbing yourself with a jackknife. The cat slowly moved next to Kai and licked his hand, mewling somehow regretfully. It seemed to be a compassionate creature after all.

xxxxxxxxxx

Max was cleaning up the living room floor from the gift-wraps when Tyson ran through the door.

"I can't find Kai or Ray anywhere! I checked their rooms too; Ray's is empty and Kai's cat is in Kai's room, sleeping on the bed, but otherwise no living soul around!"

Max kept cleaning the floor peacefully.

"I saw Ray a few minutes ago, he said that he and Kai were going outside for a walk."

"What, without a jacket? I saw Ray's jacket in the lobby, are you telling me he's out there only in his shirt? That doesn't make any sense! Maybe we should go find him and bring him his –"

"Tyson", Max interrupted, taking his friend's hand and squeezing it slightly, "I'm sure that Ray and Kai know what they are doing, so there's no need for us to worry. We could go find Hilary and Kenny instead and suggest a trip to the slide."

Tyson looked at Max for a moment and then smiled.

"Well, if you say so."

xxxxxxxxxx

About ten minutes before this confrontation, right outside the mansion there was a figure wearing a thick, dark jacket, white scarf and white mittens. It was talking to it's phone, sounding extremely peeved.

"You did _what_?" came the question through the cell-phone.

"You heard me Tala", Kai said calmly, wondering what had driven him to make the call in the first place. If it was the sympathy he was looking for, he might as well have told his worries to the tree next to him. The chances that the tree might have been more understanding were rather high.

"I knew you liked Ray", smug voice said. Kai rolled his eyes.

"Way to go, Sherlock. Now tell me what I should do."

There was a pondering silence at the other end.

"Run?"

Kai couldn't glare at his friend, so he imagined his friend's face on the bark and glared at the tree.

"Seriously Kai. I think you already _did_ something. Now you just need to handle the consequences like a man."

There were other voices in the background, not as clear as Tala's but still audible, which told Kai that Ian and Spencer were going to the store. There was a click of the door and Kai could literally hear Bryan smirking.

_They are together. No doubt about it._

"Tala, it's my life we are talking about here. Ray comes here soon. Give me something that actually helps and I promise that I won't complain about any furniture you and Bryan might break while staying here, including the bed."

"That's evil-minded hinting, Kai. I'm not even going to answer to that. _stop stop stop not now Bryan _So, what you should do about the situation... I think you just need to listen what Ray says because really, it's all up to him now _your hands are cold, take them off, right now_."

Kai blinked.

"For someones who just weeks ago glared and rolled your eyes at the journalists who asked whether you two are gay, you are acting rather suspiciously."

"Shut up. And don't expect you know what Ray is going to say to you, because most likely you don't. Just be polite and liste-eeenh _no, I don't want them there Bryan, I'm on the phone, damn you_ Let him do the speaking, okaa-ah _Bryaaan, please, not now, later, I'm speaking to Kai, stop that, mmh, Bry, seriously, stop_."

Kai couldn't help but to cough inconspicuously to get the attention.

"Do you guys need a room? In addition to the one you already have."

"Tell Hiwatari to mind his own business", a low voice came somewhere on the background, sounding a bit muffled.

"It's pretty hard not to mind your business, considering how loud you are when attending them."

Tala made a little, moaning sound.

"But I'll do what you told and hope for the best", Kai hurried to say, not exactly sure was Tala even listening to him anymore. He seemed to be a bit occupied at the moment.

"_mm, you should stopph... no, no, don't stop, don't you fucking dare to stop _Kaii, Bryan is being mean to me!" Tala said in a whining voice. Revelation was followed by a certain sound, which is produced by lips touching another when the other participant wants to get laid and wants the other one want too. Kai grinned evilly.

"Bryan, stop teasing Tala and take him to bed already. You know he wants to."

"Hey, that's not what I meant, that's – angh."

The rest of the sentence was swallowed away and replaced by stammering words Kai could not recognize, except for the occasional '_Bryyaan_'.

"I'll call you later, shall I?" Kai asked, slightly amused.

"Uh-huh", came the answer, sounding high and shaky. Kai closed the phone and grinned. Then he stood still for a while, stopped grinning and tried not to think about his best friends naked and on each other. He didn't quite succeed, and the result gave him a slightly ill feeling.

"Kai", came the soft greeting. Kai turned to look at another teen, who was wearing only jeans and a long-sleeved shirt in Russian winter. Kai gave him a stare.

"What happened to your jacket?"

"I guess Tyson or Max must have taken it. I'm fine, Kai", Ray assured and stepped a bit closer to the blue-haired boy. Then they just stood there, looking at each other.

"You wanted to talk?" Kai finally forced himself to speak. Ray seemed to snap out of something.

"Yes... I did", he said, as if he was talking more to himself than to Kai. Then he seemed to reach some conclusion. "How long have you felt the way you do?"

Kai locked his stare at the ground.

"What do you want me to answer?"

"The truth", Ray said firmly. Kai kicked snow with his left foot, looking suddenly very fascinated about the consistency of the soil.

Kai had seriously hoped that the gift would be enough for Ray and no straggling talk would be needed. He hated when he had to talk about his feelings, the words always seemed to fail him when he needed them the most.

"I've considered you different from anyone else as long as I've known you. If you are talking about that special moment when I realized that I like you more than as a friend, it was some time after the first Championship the Bladebreakers won, when our little team was apart and I was trying to forget all about beyblading", Kai said slowly, placing every word carefully to it's spot, "Now, I might have been able to forget Beyblade itself, but I couldn't forget us and the moments we shared, even if there weren't that many really warm ones. After our team reunited, it all became clear to me. Since that, many things have changed, but not the fact that I have feelings for you."

"Why?" Ray asked silently, after a moment of silence.

"Why what?" Kai inquired, somehow finding the single-worded question harder and more cruel than any other possible.

"Why do you feel those things?"

Kai felt irritated.

"I don't know _why_, it's not like it was my conscious choice. I just know how I feel about you."

"Then how do you feel about me?" Ray kept asking.

"That, my friend, could be the dumbest question I've heard in a long time."

Ray's lips turned into a little smile. Then he got more serious and turned away from Kai.

"I only want to be sure", he said quietly, looking up to the sky. Kai blinked.

"Sure about what?"

"Sure that this is worth it. That it's not just some thing you'll regret soon."

He turned to look at Kai again, and the teen's surprised posture made Ray smile a bit sadly.

"I love you, Kai. You probably hate me for saying that, but I do. I've known and I've been sure about it for a good while now. So please understand that I just don't want to get my hopes up for nothing. I don't want to get disappointed, not with you and not again. I need to know that you are real about this. If now is too late to save our friendship, at least we shouldn't let our teammates suffer by trying our luck and failing miserably. And that's pretty much what I wanted to say to you."

Silence fell upon them again. Ray was shivering now, the coldness had seemed to stop giving them peace and had attacked with full force. Without thinking twice, Kai took his jacket off and put it on Ray.

"Don't worry about it, I'm more used to the coldness and my shirt is thicker than yours", Kai interrupted when the other was about to say something. Ray seemed to consider whether to impugn, but his sense made the final decision not to.

"Thank you", he muttered and buttoned the jacket tightly.

"And Ray..."

Kai reached out to button the highest stud of the jacket. Ray looked at Kai's hands and then at his eyes expectantly and maybe even tiniest bit of hopeful.

"It'll be worth it, I promise you that. I've never felt anything like this towards anyone else, and it isn't just some passing phase," Kai said, keeping his eyes on the button, thinking up words as he went along, knowing very well that what he was saying at the moment probably determined his whole future, "I'd never let you, or us, down. And I do... love you too."

That was all he had to say, but even if there would have been something more, it would have most likely been forgotten when Ray without a warning tackled Kai into a snowpile and landed on top of him.

"I'm really glad to hear that."

Carefully Kai tried to move his hands. It turned out to be useless, seeing as Ray was pinning them down.

"Well. That was rather unexpected", he admitted, looking into those golden orbs observing his crimson-ones.

"I like surprises."

"I'll keep that in mind."

They shared a grin. Kai was feeling rather ambivalent. The snow under his back was cold and made his skin itch, but the boy over him was warm and made his skin quiver, for completely different reasons than out of cold.

"Would it be surprising if I kissed you?"

"Not really."

"Too bad."

It seemed to came as a surprise to Ray anyway, judging by the small oh-sound he made when Kai's lips touched his own. Kai decided to be sneaky and use the opportunity brought by ajar lips to his own advantage.

Too soon for older boy's liking their lips parted.

"Whoaa", Ray muttered, face slightly blushed.

"That's pretty illustrative, don't you think?" 

"It's the only thing I could come up with, really."

Ray seemed to notice just then that he was pushing Kai against cold snow. He stood up and helped the other to get back on his feet.

"Thanks. And I forgive you your lack of words", Kai said solemnly. Ray managed to glare a bit.

"How generous of you. May I remind your highness that you weren't exactly that talkative yourself. And why do _I_ always have to do all the talking anyway?"

"I think it comes more naturally with you when we talk."

"Well if that's the case, maybe you should talk to other people instead of me?" Ray said, clearly ready to see how far Kai would go with it.

"No, I think that I'm going to surprise you again."

Kai made a sudden dash and they both ended up in snow. This time Ray was fully prepared for the kiss.

They ended up needing a lot of coffee next morning.

* * *

Aaand Christmas is now officially over.

Naughty Ray. Blaming others for stealing his jackets... Bad kitty.

Just as I imagine Hilary being a Kai/Ray-shipper and knowing how Kai feels about Ray, I can imagine Max knowing or at least guessing how Ray feels about Kai. Ray and Max have always seemed like good (and cute) friends to me.

... I didn't mean to write Bryan to this story at all. Honestly. Damn his sexy smile inside my head which lured me into concluding him here. If this continues, I'll be writing M-rated stuff some day. Oh my.

Even though Christmas is over, I appreciate and value reviews.


End file.
